


Day 150

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [150]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:27:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24465709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [150]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257





	Day 150

Aveline never knew what to expect when Anders came into her office. Was it starving orphans in need of rescuing? A lecture on how to ethically contend with mage-criminals? A complaint against the Knight Commander? Did he just want to show off his new feathers? Who could say? Some days he seemed like one of the few people trying to do good in the city, other times Aveline was sure he was going to burn everything down around them. The man had an inexhaustible passion and it was a shame Hawke seemed to be the only one who could direct that passion in a constructive direction.

The guards knew enough by now not to stop the mage as he made his way for Aveline’s office. Aveline was perfectly capable of throwing the idiot out herself if she needed to.

“It's the Carta,” Anders declared upon entry.

“What’s the Carta?” Aveline asked; her patience already depleted.

“They are smuggling in an enormous shipment of lyrium. And I know where.”

It seemed that today was one of Anders’s more helpful days. Aveline left everything else in Donnic’s hands and let Ander lead her through Kirkwall. They stopped by to collect Varric, Hawke and Dane the mabari before slipping into the streets of Darktown.

No matter how many times she came down to Darktown, Aveline was still surprised by the state of it. The poor and forgotten lay where they fell, and shadowy figures scattered at their approach.

“The guards don’t get here often enough,” Aveline said, thinking out loud.

“Well if only we knew the person in charge of the patrol routes,” Anders grumbled. 

It was a fair point. Aveline tried to balance the safety of her guards with their responsibilities to the city. Much like the Alienage, the residents here were mistrustful if the law.

“Don’t give here ideas,” Varric said. “The criminals need a place to hide when she chases them out of Hightown.”

“That dosen’t-” Aveline began, but Anders cut her off.

“You’re right. Forget I said anything. You’re doing a wonderful job as guard captain.” 

Avelin ground her teeth.

“How much farther to the Carta base,” she asked. Aners led them down a few more grimy alleys until finally he said they were close. He poked his head around a corner but jumped back as though he'd been shocked. 

“There are templars there,” Andters hissed. “They must be here to make a deal with the Carta.”

“That makes no sense,” Aveline whispered back. “The templars get their lyrium through the Chantry’s contract with the merchant’s guild. They don’t need to deal with criminals.”

“Well then let’s go talk to them,” Hawke suggested. “If they attack us then they must be acting without the approval of the Chantry.”

“That’s not the solid evidence you think it is,” Aveline said.

“Nonsense,” Hawke replied. “This is why I bring you everywhere I go. Everyone always attacks me anyway but this way, when I inevitably end up killing them, I can say I was acting in defence of a city official.”

“That is a rock solid defence,” Varric added. Aveline shook her head and sighed

“Right,” Hawke said, stepping around the corner. “On my lead.”

Hawke was going to get himself killed one of these days, but if Aveline had anything to say about it, today would not be that day. She kept her sword sheathed but held her shield out in front of herself as she followed Hawke. There were, in fact, templars gathered around like they were waiting for something. They were led by Knight Captain Cullen himself.

“Champion, Guard Captain?” he said in a confused greeting. “What are you doing here?”

“Hunting down criminals,” Hawke said. “What about you?”

“I… well we were… you see,” the Knight Captain stammered.

“You son of a bitch!” shouted a deep voice from the shadows. Everyone turned to see a group of dwarves, Carta if Anders was to be believed, emerging from a shadowy tunnel. “I didn’t think I had to specify not to bring the guards down on us.”

The dwarves attacked. Hawke was right, everyone always attacked them. The fight was short and divisive, all the dwarves were killed or fled in a matter of seconds. Cullen and his templars fought with Aveline, by Hawke’s metric, proving their innocence. When the fight had ended, Aveline realized that Anders had disappeared in the confusion. What was he playing at, she wondered.

“Now,” Aveline said, turning to Cullen. “What were you doing here?”

“We were meeting an informant with information about an organized group of apostates,” Cullen explained. “An informant who is dead now. What were you doing here?”

“I received a tip about an illegal lyrium deal taking place,” she said. “Though this lot didn’t seem to have any lyrium on them.” Aveline was filled with a sudden desire to wring Anders’s neck. Had he just used the guards to protect the mage underground?

“Well... ” Cullen started but trailed off.

“I say we call it a day,” Varric said with a wink and a smile. “We met some friends, killed some criminals, all the things we love to do. Why don’t we go our separate ways, forget this ever happened and carry on with our lives.” No one objected to the dwarf’s suggestion and Cullen led his templars away from the alley and Aveline and company wned out the opposite side.

Anders had apparently used them for his own ends but it did seem like the templars were conducting business they would have preferred to keep hidden. Interacting with criminals was a necessary evil in law enforcement, but this encounter did little to soothe the lingering doubts Aveline had about letting the templars act as auxiliary guards. They had a very specific function and dangerous things happened when people did things they weren’t trained for.


End file.
